The Shadows Under Arkham
by rainydog
Summary: Selina Kyle breaks into Indian Hill to get evidence to arrest Strange, but gets herself into trouble when she's held hostage and needs to escape with the help of an unlikely ally, and a person from her past who she thought had disappeared forever. Slight divergence from what actually happens near the end of Season 2, but is still pretty similar.
1. Indian Hill

Selina maneuvered her way carefully through the mass of partiers, ducking behind drunk, scantily clad dancers to avoid the bouncers. She moved swiftly and almost gracefully past them when she saw Butch Gilzean sitting at the bar.

"Well, hey there Butch!" Selina called with false enthusiasm as she slid into the seat next to his and drew his attention away to what he was moping over.

"Jesus!" He hissed quietly as he turned his head to see Selina wearing a tight smiled and sighed. "Don't sneak up on me that. What are you doing here" He questioned.

"I need a favor - I need to get into Indian Hill." She said, Butch laughed at the teenager's businesslike attitude.

"You're too young to be here." He said and was about to wave a bouncer over, but Selina put her hand out to stop him.

"No I'm not. Look I have an ID." She said as she flashed Butch his own driver's license. Butch's hand instinctively reached for his now empty pocket and sighed.

"Just give it back." He grumbled, he was in no mood to being screwed over by a teenage street rat.

"How about this, I give you the wallet when you give me information about Indian Hill, sound fair?" She asked, Butch had underestimated Selina's skill and manipulativeness and sat back down.

"I don't know anything about Indian Hill." He said bluntly.

"Then find me someone who does." She retorted, her voice becoming quieter but harsher and more severe. Butch couldn't imagine why someone would want to have anything to do with Indian Hill, but he decided to give in.

"Penguin and Barbara were there, ask them." He said and Selina nodded slightly.

"Where can I find them?" She asked.

"Barbara's in the back, but she's sorta out of it, if you know what I mean." Butch told her, tapping on the side of his head.

"I'm sure I handle her. We go way back." Selina said as she slid Butch's wallet back towards him and slipped into the sea of people. Butch wondered where the two had seen each other before, but was distracted when he saw that Tabitha was talking with some gangster that sometimes operated as their informant. He caught a glimpse of Selina slipping into the back room, he shook his head before turning his attention back to Tabitha.

Selina shuddered as the rust on the side of the door made it close with a sharp dissonant creak, but she was sure the music from the club was loud enough that the sound would be drowned out before it got anyone's attention. She walked down the hall into a room where a disheveled Barbara, who looked vastly different from the Barbara Kean Selina had met, was holding a TV remote in her hand and unconsciously flipping through channels. _Great_ , Selina thought, _Butch was right, she's out of her mind_ ; she took a deep breath and knocked on the open door to get Barbara's attention. Barbara came out of her trance and turned to look at Selina, her eye makeup looked smudged and as if she'd slept while wearing it for a few days; Barbara let the remote slip out of her hand without noticing.

"Cat." She greeted nonchalantly.

"Barbara." Selina returned, not entirely sure of what to do or make of the situation. "Uh, what do you know about getting into Indian Hill? It's below Arkham Asylum if you don't know." She said.

"Well, I got into Arkham when I tried to kill Dr. Thompkins because I was held captive by the Ogre and he killed my parents in front of me." Barbara spoke casually, which only increased the unsettling feeling building up in Selina.

"No, I mean like sneaking in." She said, Barbara nodded but remained silent and Selina wasn't sure if Barbara had even processed the question. A few moments passed before Barbara spoke up, after quietly mouthing a few words to herself.

"I think there's a laundry shoot off somewhere in an alley not far from where your friend burned. Halfway up the chute you should be able to find and air vent-much safer traveling through there than the halls." Barbara said. Selina tensed a bit when she mentioned Bridget, she was still not totally ready to deal with her friends death and her name sparked the bitterness she felt towards not only Gordon for failing to keep his promise, but also herself for putting her faith in a cop. Though, a small part of her always knew the promise was based around her hope that Bridget would be safe, and Gordon's promise would be hard, if not impossible, to keep.

"Thanks, Barbara." Selina said cautiously as she backed out of the room and left Barbara to stare blankly at the TV, the remote still left at her feet.

Selina left the club using the fire escape and scanned Gotham's skyline, it was in the shadow of the setting sun and the sun cast a golden halo over the city, but Selina knew that nothing could save Gotham from itself and the rainy and overcast weather was more suited to portraying the essence of the dark city. It did not take long for Selina to locate the laundry chute, right after Selina heard that her friend had accidentally burned herself to death, she went to see the area and would never forget the scorch marks left by Bridget's flame thrower and the exploding police car. She set up a few tall wooden boxes to help her climb up in the chute and she sighed when she saw that the chute had an very steep, but not quite vertical, angle. She braced her body for the climb and began to slowly move herself upwards. _If anything comes down, I'm screwed_ , she thought moving a bit quicker when she found a way to balance herself. And Barbara was right, about halfway up the chute there was a metal grate that led to a horizontal air vent; Selina pressed her shoulder blades and back against one side of the chute while she placed one heel on the metal grate and delivered a few swift kicks to it before the grate opened up enough for her to slip through. She slid her feet and back around the chute until she was close enough to grab onto the grate and climb into the vent.

She was grateful that the vent was wide enough that she had more than enough space to crawl through without being compressed. She moved her hands and knees carefully to make sure no one suspected that something was in the vents, but she stopped for a second when she heard the sound of someone else trudging through the vent; she made her breath quieter and went to turn a corner when she ran into Edward Nygma.

"Riddle-guy!" She yelped in surprise.

"Gutter trash!" He said simultaneously.

"Gutter what?!" She hissed quietly.

"Sorry, gutter...diamond." He said. "What are doing here?" Nygma asked questioningly.

"Trying to break in." She admitted, and Nygma squeezed by her and laughed.

"How'd you get in here anyway? I'm looking to _break out_ , and so should you." He told her, but Selina had made a promise to Bruce that she'd get evidence from Indian Hill to get Dr. Strange arrested.

"I tell you how to get out, and you tell me how to get in." She proposed, they looked at her for a tense moment.

"Why _do_ you want to get in so badly?" He pressed.

"Doesn't concern you." She responded bluntly, Nygma shrugged and shook his head.

"Fine, fine. Go on and take a tour of the freaks." He said.

"I will, now how do I get there?" She asked, getting annoyed by Nygma's stalling.

"You seem to have forgotten our deal." He chimed, Selina sighed and told him about the laundry chute.

"Good, so here's what you gotta do. First drop down to the hall on your next right at 2:15, it's a shift change; can you pick a lock?" He asked. Selina smiled, _this is far too easy_. He finished telling her about the elevator and the hallway full of freaks, but Selina wasn't put off by his description. Before disappearing down one of the corners of the vent, Nygma turned his head towards Selina. "Trust me, you don't want to go down there." He said, issuing his last warning, but Selina ignored him and continued moving through the vent; Nygma shook his head, _stupid street rat_ , he thought to himself.

Selina stopped to inspect the metal grate that led to the hallway Nygma told her about, she dislodged it and dropped onto the floor. She was surprised, but pleased, that the lock wasn't more well hidden; she was on her knees with her bobby pins trying to pick it as quickly as she could, in the back of her mind she was counting down the time she had until the new guards took their shift. _Thirty-five, thirty-four, thirty-three…_ she sighed in relief once she felt the lock click and the wall opened up to reveal a secret elevator. Selina covered the lock and moved into the elevator, hoping that no one would hear it go down and suspect that something suspicious was going on. It opened to an empty hallway lined with doors that held the 'freaks' Nygma warned her about, she crouched down so no one inside the rooms would notice and stepped lightly down the hallway. She slid one foot around the corner, and cried out in surprise when someone yanked it forcefully and her body collided harshly with the floor. The man who grabbed her clenched onto a large clump of her hair and flipped her over onto her stomach, pressing her face into cold tile and digging one knee sharply into her back.

"Oh, you made one big mistake." He cackled as he stabbed a syringe into her neck.


	2. Hostages

The man let go of Selina once he felt her body succumb to the drug and she was rendered unconscious, he tossed her limp body over his shoulder and carried her off down the hall. He opened the door leading to one of Dr. Strange's laboratories and unfurled Selina's body on the metal table.

"I found this vermin crawling around in the hallway, thought you might want to see her." The man said as Dr. Strange stalked over to investigate.

"Oh?" Dr. Strange probed in a deep, interested tone.

"Came in through one of the vents. I drugged, what should we do with her?" He asked.

"Throw her in holding cell 205, I think I will be able to make good use of this fine, young specimen." He answered darkly, Selina's strength and agility would make her a good edition to Strange's ever-growing group of mutants and monsters. The man gave a quick salute to Dr. Strange as he tossed Selina back over his shoulder and hauled her off to the cell.

Edward Nygma jumped up as he heard the key being inserted into the lock of his cell door and reached into his back pocket for the pen he had hidden, _be quick go for the neck_ , he reminded himself. He moved over to the hinges of the door so he could take the guard by surprise and plunge the pen into the guard's neck, Nygma got himself into a good position, but was knocked backwards by the large metal door when whoever was opening it kicked the door in suddenly. The guard laughed when he heard Nygma grunt in pain and the pen fell from his hand and rolled to the man's feet.

"I'm insulted, 1537! I can't believe you thought it would be _that easy_ to kill me!" The man said as he entered the room, a limp body draped carelessly over his shoulder; Nyma almost instantly recognized that the body was Selina's. _I warned her_ he thought, the man tossed her body onto one of the cots in the room and walked over to Nygma; he realized the redheaded man was no guard, but the former patient-Jerome Valeska.

"I thought you were dead." Nygma said, shocked that Jerome survived his throat-slitting.

"Well, you also thought you could escape and kill _me_." He said as he pressed his heel over the pen, breaking it and pulling out a gun. Nygma took a step backwards and practically fell into the wall. "You see, next time you try something like that, I won't be so merciful." Jerome threatened as he pressed the gun up to Nygma's heart. _Noted_ , he thought breathlessly as Jerome began to walk out of the cell and chimed "Have fun with your new roommate." in a sing-songy voice. Nygma glared at the now locked cell door with contempt, his eyes burning into the cold, hard metal frame; he shook his head angrily and looked towards Selina. _She's alive, which is good...probably_ he thought, he didn't have any particular opinions on the girl. Nygma fell back onto his cot, biting the inside of his mouth in anger-he could've escaped if it hadn't been Jerome. He spent the better part of the next hour staring up at the ceiling working over his botched escape attempt in his mind, how did they know he was going to escape and out of that entrance? Nygma was lucky, but surprised, to be alive; he could not be sure what sort of hell Strange was working up for him and shudder as he remembered the monsters he saw when he first ventured into Indian Hill. He turned his head over to the side as he heard Selina coming out of her drugged unconsciousness and began to stir.

"Well, looks who's alive." He said bored as she slid a hand on the wall, trying to determine where she was. She let out a few mumbled words that sounded like a distorted mixture 'what?' and 'where?'Nygma continued to watch as Selina slowly began to regain her motor functions and start thinking straight again. She looked across the room at Nygma and sighed.

"You?" She grumbled, still discombobulated and looking monstrously hungover.

"Me." He responded.

"Where am I? I thought you got out." She said, speaking a bit slower than usual.

"Indian Hill, and I _almost_ got out, but got intercepted." He explained agitated.

"Don't be so bitter, I didn't tip anyone off." She said.

"Oh, I'm not bitter towards you, I'm just bitter in general." Nygma said, smiling mischievously to himself as Selina slipped off her cot while trying to push herself up. "How's the weather down there, Kit Kat?" He smirked.

"Cat. It's _Cat_." She said, glaring and almost hissing at him.

"I like Kit Kat, it makes you...friendlier." He mocked.

"Friendlier?! We're hostages in a breeding ground for freaks!" She cried out, irritated by Nygma's mockery and nonchalant nature.

"And now you are also a candy bar." He quipped.

"God, kill me." She moaned annoyedly.

"Normally, I'd be happy to oblige, but my stabbing pen's broken." Nygma said, leaning over the side of his cot and examining the spot where Jerome crushed his only means of escape.

"Too bad." Selina replied as she pulled herself back onto the bed. "How long have I been here?" She asked, realizing she had probably been gone for a long enough time that Bruce and Gordon might have taken matters into their own hands, she hoped finding her and busting her out was on their to-do list.

"You've been in this cell for a little over an hour maybe, but as you can see," he said gesturing at the empty walls, "there aren't any clocks." He responded, then smiled to himself- "Expecting someone?" He asked, intrigued by the thought that he could use Selina's connections as a way out.

"Yes, actually. I called up the President, he's sending in a SWAT team, they should be here in about…" she started, looking at a nonexistent watch on her wrist, "twelve or so minutes." She said sarcastically. The two of them looked at each other from their cots blankly trying to not feel as trapped as they were, but were forced to resign to their current fate. They lay on their backs in silence for an uncertain amount of time that must've felt longer than it actually was, but the quiet atmosphere was broken when a sharp hissing sound came amplified through an air vent at the top of the cell. Selina's eyes drifted up towards the vent as a foggy-gray cloud of smoke began to descend into the room, smothering out all the oxygen. The effects of the gas caught them off-guard, it was not smoke, smoke wouldn't have sunken to the floor of the cell like it came from a waterfall. They stood up on their cots, still trying to catch their breath, to get away from the poisonous gas.

"What is that?" Selina asked hoarsely with her hand on her throat, but Nygma only shook his head in a submission of unknowingness. If he had time and was not in such a compromising position, he might've been able to determine what type of gas it was based on its properties and characteristics, but he could barely think at all as the plume of foggy-gray gas continued to force itself into their cell. As the gas built up on the cell floor, small whisps of it were released into the air and stung their eyes so harshly, their eyes may have started bleeding for all they knew. Selina pulled her shirt up over the mouth and nose, but she knew it would all be in vain because there was no way to escape; she'd considered the vent as a possible escape route before the gas began pouring in, but its frame was much more well constructed than the ones she used to break in, and it was certainly not a means of escape now either.

As the supply of oxygen in the room lessened, her oxygen-deprived mind hallucinated an image of Bruce sitting on the floor and drinking what looked like tea in an antique cup that must've cost a fortune, and in that moment she hated him, hated him for constantly putting her in danger. She closed her eyes tightly and when she reopened them, Gordon was standing leaning on the door of her cell, she could feel the rage building up inside of her, _where are you? Why haven't you found me?_ Selina thought bitterly. Those people made her feel expendable, like she had to prove that she deserved existence, unlike Bruce, the golden-boy who was apple of everyone's eye. These were not the emotions she wanted to feel in what she believed would've been the final moments of her life. Had the gas not made Selina's eyes become as dry as Death Valley, she might've cried, but a sudden change in the pressure of the room forced lungfuls of oxygen down her and Nygma's throats; they gasped loudly as the light-headedness began to recede and Selina first believe she had died, until her eyes came upon the black pants and boots of a stranger who'd just thrown open the cell door.


	3. Escape

Selina took long deep breaths before pushing herself up on her elbows and craning her neck to look up at their savior who was towering over her, she had long dark hair that surrounded her pale face and brushed against her black and white striped Arkham inmate uniform. Selina's eyes were still adjusting and she had trouble making out the details of her face. Something must have happened while the gas was pouring into their cell because an annoyingly loud siren was going off in the hall, accompanied by flashing red and white lights.

"Let's go." the dark-haired woman said as she pulled Selina off the ground.

"How do I know this isn't a trap?" Selina retorted, she took a step backwards but the woman still had a firm grip on her upper arm.

"You don't. Let's go, now." she said, speaking loudly so she could be heard over the sirens.

"Fine." Selina said through clenched teeth and the two began moving out into the hallway, but the woman stopped and looked back into the cell.

"Are you coming?" She asked Nygma who looked confused at the woman, _there's no way this is going to end well, but can't be any worse than staying here_ he reasoned and rose off his cot and followed the two women out of the room. The hazy feeling that gas created was beginning to leave Selina and Ed as the three of them charged through the hallway that was filled with other swarming Indian Hill inmates and guards trying to keep them under control, the woman had Selina by the arm and Nygma had his and on the woman's shoulder so they did not get separated as they moved through the large mass of people. Nygma noticed that her uniform was not the same as the ones that Arkham Asylum inmates wore and that she was probably a resident of Indian Hill, he shuddered to think about what sick experiments Dr. Strange must have performed on her. After a few minutes of tirelessly running and trying to avoid guards they came to a hallway that went off in two directions, the woman signaled for them to get down and spoke to Selina and Nygma in a low voice.

"Both of these hallways can get you out of Indian Hill if you follow them the right way, the right one," she said pointing down one hallway where they could all hear noise from loose inmates "has the most direct exit but there are more cells there than the other. I recommend we take the left one, we're less likely to get caught in a large group and the lights and siren will go down in the section first so we can move around in the dark." she explained.

"Wait a minute, are you insane?" Nygma hissed quietly "There are still going to be guards there and if it's an empty hallway you're going to be all they're shooting for." he finished, Selina and the woman both knew there was some truth in what Nygma said, the two still seemed to think it was worth the risk to avoid potentially dangerous inmates all looking for a way out.

"Well, it looks like this is it for us." Nygma said to Selina "I think I speak for the both if us when I say, once you've been through something like this with another person, you never want to see that person again." he said.

"Agreed." Selina replied, she and Nygma exchanged a brief handshake before rushing off in different directions. Selina and the woman moved swiftly through the darkened hall, most of the lights were out but some of them and dull emergency lights remained on. They ran into no problems and were practically yards away from their exit, but as they turned the corner, they were confronted by a young guard, holding a gun in his shaking hands.


	4. In Need

The left half of the guard's face was illuminated by the yellow-ish glow of the emergency lights and it gave the shaking gun a long shadow across the floor. He had either never drawn his weapon before, or he feared the tests that Dr. Strange performed on the older woman made her as dangerous as his other test subjects like Firefly and Mr. Freeze, or perhaps it was both. But whatever the reason, it did not matter to the two women standing across from him in the dimly lit hallway, he had a gun and they did not. The older woman raised her hands to show that she had no readily available weapons and made a cautious, half-step forward.

"Let us go." she said in a non threatening but commanding voice. She held out her right hand and looked at the gun and back at the guard. "Give me gun, and let us go. We aren't here to cause trouble, we just want to get out." she assured him. But the guard was unconvinced and pulled away sharply, he could not let her touch him if she had powers like Fish Mooney.

"Get back to your cell." he told them breathing heavily. The older woman took another step forward still holding out her right hand and had her left arm extended in a protective gesture in front of Selina.

"It's okay, I promise we aren't here to-" the older woman was cut off by the guard firing his gun three times at the woman and Selina. The first bullet pierced the older woman's chest and lodged itself in her shoulder blade, the second passed through her abdomen and into Selina, and the final one struck Selina just below her left lung and rib cage. The young guard, still fearful of the older woman, fled down the hallway to get himself out of Indian Hill. Selina and the woman doubled over in pain almost immediately and the two collapsed onto the cold floor facing each other. The older woman's uniform was soaked in blood around her chest and her abdomen as the blood steadily oozed out of her body, she moved one hand to her chest to slow the bleeding and grasped the other one tightly on Selina's shoulder who was curling her body around her bullet wounds.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Cat." the older woman said breathlessly. Selina raised her eyes to meet the other woman's.

"Why did you call me that?" Selina asked. The woman didn't say anything but looked at Selina sadly. "Mom?" Selina said.

"I love you baby. You're so strong." Selina's mother told her, her voice fading.

"Please...please don't leave me." Selina pleaded.

"I'm trying...I am...my little Cat." she said to Selina, moving her hand from Selina's shoulder to the side of her face as blood rose to her lips. Their vision blurred and the two of them slipped into unconsciousness.

Harvey and Lucius moved quickly but carefully down the stairs leading into Indian Hill, making sure to dodge the debris that was strewn around the the dark hallway. They did not intend to be slowed down by anything, but their plans were changed when they came across two curled up bodies facing each other. The older woman in an Arkham uniform had her hand and arm draped across the younger woman's face. Harvey may even have kept moving when he saw that one woman was wearing an Arkham uniform and was probably another one of Stange's monsters, but there was also a much younger woman who was wearing street clothes. _She doesn't belong here_ Harvey thought to himself and got down on his knees beside the two women, Lucius joined him and pressed two fingers against the neck of the older woman and shook his head.

"This one's dead Harvey." he said and placed his fingers against the neck of the younger one. "But the kid's alive." he said. He was surprised she was alive based on the amount of blood on the floor, but he knew much of it was probably from the dead woman who a thin trail of blood coming out of the side of her mouth and blood stained teeth. Harvey did not recognize that the girl was Selina Kyle until Lucius removed his jacket and pressed it Selina's bullet wounds to keep her from losing anymore blood.

"My God, that's Selina Kyle." Harvey said looking down at the pale-faced teenager.

"The witness to the Wayne murders?" Lucius asked, Harvey nodded.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Harvey asked, not expecting an answer. The sound of the elevator from Arkham Asylum opening came from above them and Harvey turned his head around sharply when he heard Gordon calling out Harvey's name.

"Jim! Jim! We're going to need you down here." Harvey called. Gordon came rushing down the stairs and almost tripped over a cart that was laying sideways on the ground.

"Harvey, what hap-" he began but cut himself off when he saw Selina Kyle curled up on the floor across from another woman, both of them surrounded by a pool of blood.

"It' a miracle the kid's alive, but she needs to get treated _fast_." Lucius said with deep meaning to Gordon. "She probably won't make it to Gotham General, I'll take her to one of the medical stations in Arkham Asylum, you two go after Strange." Lucius said, lifting Selina in his arms, her body still covered with his jacket that was now covered in the blood from the floor, and from Selina's. Gordon kept his eyes on the limp teenager for a moment before he and Harvey proceeded to move down the hallway, their guns drawn.

"Hey, partner. You alright?" Harvey asked, he knew how much time and energy Gordon and spent trying to keep Selina alive and safe during the Wayne murder investigation.

"Yeah." Gordon said unconvincingly. "Let's go get Strange."


End file.
